IQNA

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Huge crowds of mourners are streaming into the streets of Tehran to pay their final respects to Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president and chairman of the Expediency Council, who is viewed as a pillar of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The body of the venerated cleric will be laid to rest at the
mausoleum of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini on Tuesday
morning.

Among other participants are government ministers,
lawmakers, military top brass, members of the Expediency Council and the Assembly
of Experts as well as a number of foreign ambassadors and dignitaries.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei performed the funeral prayers at Tehran University. The cortege is now
scheduled to depart towards Imam Khomeini’s mausoleum in southern Tehran, according to Press TV.

Mourners were carrying pictures of the late cleric alongside
those of Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Khamenei and President Rouhani.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani was admitted to Shohada Hospital in
northern Tehran on Sunday after suffering a heart attack. He passed away later
in the day. He was 82.

Iran is observing three days of national mourning in honor
of Ayatollah Rafsanjani.

On Monday, a mourning ceremony was held at Jamaran Mosque in
Tehran. President Rouhani along with other senior officials attended the
funeral.

Rafsanjani helped establish the Combatant Clergy Association
in 1977, which proved fatefully instrumental in the victory of the Islamic
Revolution two years later.

He became Iran’s first Speaker of Parliament after the
Revolution, serving until 1989.

Then, he was elected president, in which position he
functioned until 1997.

He was also the chairman of the Expediency Council, a
position he kept until his departure.